BarFly Bus

I have done so many buses and have a great time every time! Reading these negative reviews makes me laugh. Any seasoned drinker knows that those younguns under 23 are just unpredictable at best! Also, as far as only going to dive bars, THATS THE POINT! I have found the coolest bars from these buses that I would never have been to before! I’ve done the love stinks let’s drink (valentine’s day), barlfy Olympics, and 4 others. Never not once was I disappointed. The food is complimentary at the first bar and as to discounted drinks, barfly can really only do so much. I absolutely recommend going on these buses. It will give you something to (mostly in my case lol) remember and give you new friends as well!

I’ve taken 4 party bus’s now and can’t stop raving about it. best deal in portland! the drivers are awesome the hosts are the best! Jen IS GOD. BAR FLY TIL I DIE.

Lol these guys are a joke. They don’t allow anyone under the age of 23… What makes you the expert at reading people 22 and 23 and how much they drink. This was going to be a fun joint bachelor/​bachelorette but right away turned into an automatic turn off after she sent bitchy emails back saying people under 23 aren’t allowed because they throw up… You own a traveling bus taking people to different bars. You don’t think anyone can get sick after getting drunk and then getting on a bus no matter the age. LAWLZ hilarious. Thank the lord that I decided to go on Unilocal and look at all the terrible reviews this joke of a company has. Keep up the good work. Go to doubledeckerpdx, way better company.

Thanks to BarFly I had easily the worst New Years experience of my life this year.
My boyfriend and I, along with a group of friends, decided to do the BarFly NYE bus and ball package, which advertised that it would take us to several local bars and then ring in the new year at a private ball, complete with free champagne, food and New Years gifts. After starting the tour 20 minutes late, being rushed through four dive bars (and getting lost on the way to three out of the four), we ended up arriving about 15 minutes before midnight at our final destination «ball» where we were forced to wait outside in a long line. Thanks to some awful planning on the part of BarFly, the venue could not actually fit everyone that had paid to enter, and I found myself still standing in line outside in the freezing cold with a few dozen others when the clock struck midnight, unable to access any of the things that I had already paid for. Our group leader was nowhere to be found during any of this as she took her first opportunity to rush inside and left us completely stranded outdoors.
I emailed Jen at BarFly on New Years day, expecting, at the very least, an apology for how horribly this event was handled. Several days later I have not heard back yet, which I think just goes to show how little these people really care about their customers.

So friends and I did this for the first time; we were told we would bar hop then end up at a NYE ball and have champagne and NYE swag and voodoo doughnuts at this place. When we got to the final destination (after going to 5 dive bars) we were not allowed inside at midnight. We were stuck outside in the cold for the count down and then still not let in for awhile after. We paid for the final bar and never got to go in to enjoy, it was a rip off. Never again will I be doing this and I will never recommend it to anyone. I understand that the bar was responsible but bar fly needed to keep them in line for how to respect us since we were supposed to be VIP customers. Not ok, not fun to spend NYE and so disappointing.
That was the main disappointment, but the night was not good before that. We were told free snacks at all bars, there were none. We were told discounted drinks, nope full price even with a wrist band.
The only good part about the night was the people on the bus who became our instant friends and hung out with us at a different bar after the terrible midnight let down.

They actually told us to get off the bus at the first stop where they were going to pick us up. Told us it was for a private bachelorette party even though we were showing the email from her. The phone numbers are disconnected so you can’t contact them about getting your money back when they are the idiots that left us. stay far away from this. Totally shady and will rip you off

Some friends and I took the BarFly bus to ring in 2014. It is a great way to bar hop and see some new spots without having to worry about driving/​cabbing/​walking/​public transportationing. We went to some cool bars, but it seemed pretty unorganized. We would show up to a bar with one seemingly unsuspecting bartender and have to chug drinks by the time we got them. The bus was a little crowded (three adults squeezed into one seat in some of the rows).
As for or «host,» you ask? Well, there certainly was a whole lot of douchebaggery caught in his beard or something. If you’ve got a job that cool, where you get to party with strangers, you probably shouldn’t be super arrogant and unapproachable. Not a fan of the too-​cool-​for-​school attitude.
We arrived at a bar about 10 minutes before midnight that was blaring uncomfortably loud dubstep. I get it: it’s a pub crawl, it’s full of surprises, that’s all part of the fun… But that was not a good place to be after drinking for 6+ hours. Then, our trusty host took off to a stripper bar for a while, leaving us in a dubstep nightmare. I would’ve left sooner, but without the host, there was no bus, and my jacket was on the bus, so I had to wait until he got back, at which point I gathered my belongings and walked home.
Overall, I had a great night. However, the host + dubstep killed the rating. The two stars I give are for the idea of the whole thing and the fact that I was safely shuttled around to a few cool places that I may otherwise never have gone to. So, for that, thank you, BarFly !!!

These bitches cray. Have a blast every time.

I’ve been taking Barfly tours for about 10 years now. Always a great time! I make new friends, check out bars that I’ve never been to before and really enjoy the people-​watching. I’ve been on tours with the owner, Jen, and I can tell that she really cares about how much fun people are having and how much work she puts into everything going seamlessly. As a fellow business owner, her efforts mean a lot to me. You want something different, adventurous and fun? Barfly!

I booked this bus for Halloween this year and I was blown away. The bus went to the coolest dive bars and the host was awesome. At the different places they had costume contest where they have out prizes. I had an amazing time and the people I met were very interesting. The structure of the bus was simple and the time at the different bars was perfect. As soon as I was ready to try another place I heard the host yell «10 minutes!!» So I was able to finish my drink and smoke as the bus rolled up.
I suggest anyone that wants to see the real pdx to book a barfly bus and explore the city with BarFly.

Ooky Spooky Halloween Barfly Bus event 2013. First off, a lovely friend of ours organized a group to take this tour, and if she reads this, we want her to know that the only reason we had any fun on this event was because of her and our awesome group of friends that rode together.
The rest of this event was mainly dreadful due to Barfly Bus Inc.
Let’s just start at the beginning. So, we arrive on time (5:30 pm) at the «secret» pick up spot to check in. There is a small cold buffet of veggies, dips, grocery store cookies and candy, plus ice water. We mill about waiting for a host or emcee to welcome us and let us know what we need to do next. Our group is feeling uncomfortable about how we are supposed check in? We wait over an hour. Nothing. The instructions we received were adamant that we need be on time or the bus will leave us, and yet, at 6:30 there were no busses, or any sort of host to let us know what was going on. At almost 7 pm, two women arrive and start *yelling* at us to leave the room we have been waiting in, to line up for registration. Then they decide they don’t have enough room to check folks in and curtly move the lines. Two. More. Times. Back and forth between the room and the bar. Question: So the hour and half before, when absolutely nothing was going on and people were bored and concerned, that was not a good time to take attendance? Then, they could not decide who was riding which of the two busses that finally showed up, and, since they had not blocked off a place at the curb, these busses were holding up street traffic over which our «Tourguide» was rude to a Trimet driver simply trying to get his bus through the congestion. Charming.
Oh, the busses? Not luxe charter cruisers or disco party double-​deckers, these were not even highschool transportation, they were elementary school busses with seats sized for 2^nd graders. Luckily, we two, are petite people, because I felt really sorry for the bigger guys. Even so, with our weapons and shield we had no elbow room at all. People, we were all in serious costumes, some outfits were barely able to fit on board.
The advertised tour stated that we’d be taken to «.some of the scariest haunts in Portland.» And by scary, what they really meant: gross, dingy dives and empty, lifeless sports bars. Oh, and no cover charges for Barfly guests? Well~ not to worry! None of these joints were charging a cover lest they be totally empty on a Saturday night! Considering the amount of time and money our group had put into our costumes (At several of these stops the «tour» were the only people in costume. So, um, fun. Oh wait, not.) We would have better used our efforts at a fun, celebrating bar (even with a cover) and would have still come out ahead. Also advertised were Barfly drink specials, which we were not offered at any of our stops, not one signature cocktail or group drink special.
During the «tour» there were no organized activities, mixers or stunts besides the «costume contests» wherein the prizes were certificates for the crummy bars we would never be visiting again. And no matter that there were several Barfly Busses out roving around– we never saw another group all night. We thought they might drop different busses off together at stops so you could get to meet people, but sadly no, all night you remained with only your 25 – 30 people.
We realized far too late that we were never being taken anywhere decent for music and dancing. We seriously discussed calling a cab to take us back downtown but we were so far out in the (get this:) SE sticks and due to the size of our group, it would have been simply unmanageable. We were stuck with no recourse but stay on til the bus returned downtown. Several people in the group chose to just sit on the bus rather than go into any more sad, tiny neighborhood waterholes to which we were being strung along.
I could never recommend this event to anyone. Just no.

Very disappointing New Year’s Eve event with Barfly. We were a big group and took up almost half of a bus by ourselves, alas, even our rocking group of friends couldn’t save the boring vibe of dive-​bar after dive-​bar that were were carted to. We started in the Pearl, and ended up at an empty bar on NE 82^nd nearing midnight. The bus then took us all to Suki’s next to the freeway to ring in then New Year, we got there with about 5 minutes to spare.
This may be a better option for a regular night, but I was utterly unimpressed with the tour, and would have had more fun anywhere else…

Very disappointing. We did a small bus tour (about 12 ppl) to area establishments in April and we’re less than thrilled. It seemed to all of us that Barfly wasn’t picking the best places to go but instead had tie ins. When confronted about how downtrodden the venues were that barfly chose, barfly’s response is that these venues continually come up with high scores on reader’s choices. Maybe, but when we looked them up, we couldn’t find any data to support that assertion. Ultimately, we feel that we would have been better off saving our $ 500 and just going to clubs on our own. PS the last club we visited wouldn’t even let us in despite it being one of BarFly’s chosen locations on our list. Portland is so great, just make your own itinerary.

Happy New Year!
Anthony was our host. Great-​ish guy… sorta. No. He was definitely someone I would have a couple PBRs with on a Saturday night, but this is New Year’s Eve people! I spent good money on high heels and brought plenty of cash (as suggested by the sweet owner) to go out and have a great time ringing in the new year with all my closest friends.
The night started with going to a bar that was still opening and the bartender was pissed that we were showing up screaming for drinks when she was still stocking her bar. This was followed by a long stream of dive sports bars. We couldn’t dance anywhere, and when we finally got settled into a halfway fun spot, Anthony was screaming at us that we had to leave.
If it was a random get together, these bars would have been fine. It was New Year’s Eve and I expected a bit more. I was disappointed and probably wouldn’t put Bar Fly at the top of my list for next year’s festivities.

My bridesmaids and I attended The Wet, Hot, American Summer BarFly Tour on Aug 28, 2012, for my Bachelorette Party! We had an AMAZING time and were well taken care of!
Our hostess was none other than, Miss Jennifer Lane, herself! — The founder of BarFly Magazine and owner operator of BarFly Bus! Jen took a personal interest in making everyone feel welcome while maintaining respect and safety amongst the guests. We were ALL the cool kids on the bus!
The bars chosen were lively, and HAPPY to serve our crazy bus load of 55 diverse Portlanders and tourists. We were spoiled with great drink specials and free appetizers when informing the bartenders we were on the BarFly tour!
Each destination of the tour was a cool surprise, well planned, organized and beautifully executed! My bridesmaids and I especially enjoyed the bars with Karaōke, live music and dancing!
Thanks Jen, for a fabulous time! Keep doing what ya do!
Lisa M

Dressed as a Girl Scout/​Brownie and a Box of Thin Mints my date and I jumped at the chance to do BarFly’s Bus Tour on Halloween. Overall it was a good time and I have to credit our host, John, for contributing to that overall experience. (Any guy who dresses like Elmer Fudd and carries a toy musket with a stuffed animal rabbit tied to it is ok by me! Oh, and I really liked his pep talks about «being like a ninja» and «gangstering the kareoke bar.») The tour was well executed and it was interesting to visit some of Portland’s offbeat, weird, dive bars that you wouldn’t otherwise visit. After all, when you are showing up with 40+ fun people it doesn’t matter where you go. All of the bars were receptive to being flooded with a herd of party-​goers although service could be understandably slow at times. Unlike others’ experiences, we did not have any violent outbreaks on our bus. (And thank goodness for that because I think John might have beat us over the head with his toy musket and stuff that rabbit down our throat.)
The only negatives to this tour is that it started at Trader Vic’s which was a total cluster and its was a bit hard to maneuver in there, espeically when you’re a box of Thin Mints. Also, the tour advertised appetizers but I think that only consisted of popcorn. I definitely recommend a hearty meal to absorb the booze before heading out on the tour.

Been on this one a couple of times but I think it is for a younger, meat seeking crowd. Basically you go on this big yellow school bus knowing no one and come out at the end of the night with 50 new best friends. LOL
Really though the first time I over did it and the second time it seemed like we were going to go all the same places. I have had my fill and it is a long night starting at 7 and ending somtimes a little after midnight (if you can stay on the whole time). I didn’t either time I went.
I’m not sure if I would go again or not but it is fun and I think Jen does a great job. This is something though that if you do it, you can’t really plan just know that you will start and be done downtown. I think they do this for the reason of one they don’t want people following the bus, and two for the no drinking and driving. You do not start and stop at the same place. It is a fun ride, but I think personally in my opinion for a younger crowd.

I booked the BarFly Tour for New Years Eve with a group of friends and I wish I could give this tour more stars, but the night just ended up being so unsafe, I can’t rave about this tour at all.
On the website, emails you get beforehand and multiple times on the bus that night, it was clearly explained that any fights on the bus would result in immediately being kicked off the bus. This did not happen. A huge fight broke out at the end of the night and 55 people were stuck on the bus and in danger. The hostess ended up being friends with the group that were fighting, which explained why she didn’t kick them off, even though the entire bus asked her to.
A second fight broke out from the same group and the bus driver refused to let any of us off. It was a dangerous situation and the two people running the event couldn’t control the situation. People were trying to exit from the emergency exit and the bus driver shut us back in and said that no one could leave.
I emailed Jen (who runs the tours) and she apologized and gave me free tickets to another tour. She said there were many other buses that night and no other incidents had taken place. You can’t control what happens on the bus, but the hostess did not defuse the situation at all and the bus driver was completely out of line by not allowing us off the bus. It made me realize I don’t need to be stuck on a bus with 50+ drunk people, where I can’t control what happens and as nice as the tickets were, I can’t see myself getting back on a future tour.
It should have been great, it sounds like most of the time it IS great… I just had the misfortune of getting stuck on a bus with a bunch of jerks.

So I came up to Portland for the weekend to catch a show on Friday night and was contemplating driving up to Seattle to catch a show or Sounders game until I stumbled upon a website for the Barfly bus while looking for a microbrewery tour.
The Barfly bus can be rented out for parties, group events, etc… but every so often they hold their own event. There happened to be an event the weekend I was in town called the Barfly Bar Olympics or something to that extent.
I’m guessing there was a group of about 40 of us in teams of 2 – 4 all dressed in some kind of team uniform (made-​up printed tees, team 80’s neon) etc…
We started at the Thirsty Lion where everyone met and had a pint and free appetizers courtesy of barfly. I had a pretty good feeling about the whole thing when I saw that our host Jebediah «Diamond» was sporting a Grizzly Adams beard, aviators, soccer cleats, and had just had his nails did.
We then proceeded to several different bars… Slabhouse, Bar Bar, Sandy Hut, and some bar tabs revealed I also went to a place called Vendetta, and something that begins with Mississippi (maybe?). Basically there was a contest at each bar. Not a drinking contest, but some kind of skill (not talking athletic here) was required. The contests didn’t necessarily get harder, but they sure got harder to do.
I’m 32 and I wasn’t the oldest on the bus, but was probably on the upper end, but had a complete blast, but then again, I love a good party. It definitely wasn’t a fratty type event, just fun as shit. I may have to roll a bunch of friends up from Sacramento for another event if we can time it when a good band is in town.
Although my team didn’t win the event (I think the payout was $ 100), I did wake on top of my hotel bed with my contacts in, all my clothes on and a crumpled paper airplane in my pocket that I’m pretty sure flew straighter than I was walking and netted the gold medal that was still around my neck.
Bring cash as 40 people walking into a bar at once, kind of slams the bartenders.

Alright Miss Jen Lane I owe you an apology for pre-​judging your tour. I’m not worthy.
If you have a group and you want to have a kick ass time – do the Barfly Bus Tour. Our group (bachelorette party) for $ 20 a person got driven around on a school bus with 50 other drunks, given priority at the Karaōke Bar (Chopsticks), happy hour prices all night long (Rocco’s, Gold Dust Meridian, The Sandy Hut, Plan B, The Hilt, Chopsticks, and the Spare Room). It was absolutely perfect.
The catch – you won’t know where you are meeting at until the day before and you won’t know where the last stop is, which holds you up to your pinky promise to not drink and drive (and honestly, who does that anyway?)
Good things to know: Eat dinner (and lots of it) before you go. Get a hotel downtown (we stayed at the Marriot on Wasco and Grand, which was perfect). Bring your own booze for the bus (yes, you can drink on the bus!!) Bring your dancin’ shoes, bling your self out in boas, hats whatever, and have a radtacular time. You can leave your belongings on the bus. You have about 45minutes to an hour at each place and it runs from 7pm-​1am.
My thirtieth bday will be on a bus tour – hands down.